Aircraft closure flaps



Dec. 30, 196 9 I A. MYCZINSKI 3,486,72

AIRCRAFT CLOSURE FLAPS Filed July 19, 1968 United States Patent Int. =c1. B64b 1/54; B64c /04 US. Cl. 24453 5 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An airplane having at least one lift drive mechanism with an outlet, which is adapted selectively to be closed and opened by front and rear flap means operable to deviate the jet from said outlet, and in which said front flap means is pivotable about a fixed axis Whereas the rear flap means is pivotable about a movable axis.

The present invention relates to an airplane with at least one lifting mechanism the outlet of which is adapted to be closed by two serially arranged flaps which are pivotable in the same direction about axes transverse to the direction of flight and near their front edges and which are also adapted to deflect the jet.

Airplanes have become known in which a plurality of lifting mechanisms have been combined to a unit in which a common outlet opening at the bottom side of the plane is adapted to be closed by flaps pivotable in the same direction. In this connection, one flap each is associated with the range of a lifting mechanism while the flap in one intermediate position simultaneously serves for deviating the jet of the driving mechanism for cruising.

With this heretofore known design and also with similar outlet openings adapted to be closed, the jet deviation is unfavorable because those portions of the oppositely tiltable flaps which guide the driving jet are rather short for maintaining the necessary ground clearance, so that the jet can be guided and deviated only over a short length between said two flaps. This, in turn, brings about that only small deviating angles can be effectively adjusted. When setting larger flap deviating angles, cavitation occurs at the edges and the noses so that a desired deviation by larger angles brings about losses due to turbulence.

Flap arrangements have been known according to which the flaps are arranged farther to the rear in the driving jet, so that the jet first leaves the outlet and only after passing a free path impacts upon the flaps. In partially opened condition, only a portion of the driving jet impacts upon the flaps. Furthermore, with completely opened flaps long flap portions protrude from the hull so that only a small ground clearance remains below the flaps.

It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a flap design and arrangement which will overcome the above-mentioned drawbacks.

It is another object of this invention to provide a flap design and arrangement in such a way that one one hand an effective jet deviation with a minimum of losses will be made possible, while on the other hand, with fully opened flaps a maximum of bottom clearance will be obtained therebelow.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will appear more clearly from the following specification in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 shows the flap arrangement according to the invention in closed position;

3,486,721 Patented Dec. 30, 1969 ICC FIGURE 2 illustrates the flap arrangement of FIG- URE 1 in a position for the jet deviation; and

FIGURE 3 shows the flap arrangement according to the invention in completely opened position.

The above-mentioned objects have been realized according to the present invention in that the front flap which is pivotable in flight direction is pivotable in a manner known per se about a fixed axis, whereas the pivot shaft for the rear flap is guided in a coulisse or sliding block firmly connected to the plane and extending approximately from the center of the opening toward the rear. The side rear flap will from the start of the opening operation cause its top side to deviate the jet adjacent thereto toward the rear until it reaches an ineffective position.

According to a further development of the present invention, two serially arranged guiding members may be provided for guiding the rear flap in said coulisse.

According to a still further development of the invention, the front and rear flaps are each provided with an arm the ends of which are pivotally interconnected by means of a connecting rod which is preferably adjustable as to length. A fixed point of the airplane may furthermore have linked thereto one end of a rod the other end of which is provided with an oblong hole surrounding holding means for the rear flap.

Referring now to the drawing in detail, the lifting mechanism built into the hull 3 or a nacelle on the airplane has its outlet covered by two flaps 1 and 6. Flap 1 which, when looking in flight direction is located at the front, has its front end provided with a nose 1a. The said flap 1 is by means of said nose 1a fixedly arranged on a shaft 2 which is rotatably journalled in hull 3 so that by turning the said shaft 2, flap 1 will be rotated. In addition to the dot-dash line illustrated drive for the actuation of the flaps, shaft 2 has connected thereto one end of a rod or link 4 the free end 7 of which has linked thereto an additional rod or link 5 which, for purposes of a precise adjustment of the closing position (FIG. 1) of flaps 1 and 6 is equipped with an adjustable length compensating member 8. This member 8 is linked to a follower nose 14 of flap 6 and is adapted to pivot flap 6 along a coulisse 10 or slot stationary with regard to the hull. Flap 6 slides in coulisse 10 by two guiding members 9, 9' arranged at that portion of flap 6 which is the front portion when looking in flight direction. The intermediate portion of flap 6 has formed thereon a guiding pivot 13 which is adapted to slide in an oblong hole 11 of a guiding rod 12 which is pivotable about the shaft 15 stationarily arranged in the airplane.

As will be seen from the above, one important advantage of the present invention consists in that both flaps, from the start of opening the same way cause jet deviation in rearward direction, and the opening movement of the rear flap can be designed favorably in view of the pivot shaft for said flap being guided in the coulisse or slot 10'.

It is, of course, to be understood, that the present invention is by no means limited to the particular construction shown in the drawing, but also comprises various modifications, the scope of the invention being defined by the claims.

What I claim is:

1. An air plane having at least one lift drive mechanism with an outlet, which includes: first and second flap means arranged in flight direction of said airplane one behind the other and when looking in said flight direction forming front and rear flap means respectively, said front and rear flap means respectively being arranged in the vicinity of the front and rear portions of said outlet for selectively opening and closing the same and deviating the jet from said outlet, shaft means supported by said plane and pivotally supporting said front flap means for pivoting about a stationary axis extending transversely to the longitudinal extension of said airplane, said airplane being provided with guiding passage means arranged in the vicinity of said rear flap means and in the vicinity of the rear portion of said outlet, guiding means connected to the front portion of said rear flap means and movably guided in said guiding passage means for pivoting movement of said rear flap means, said guiding passage means being so designed as to pivot said rear flap means about a movable axis extending transversely to the longitudinal direction of said airplane in a direction away from said stationary axis when said rear flap means is being pivoted in opening direction and in a direction toward said fixed axis when said rear flap means is being pivoted in closing direction, and link means interconnecting said front and rear flap means.

2. An airplane according to claim 1, in which said guiding passage means is formed by slot means, and in which said guiding means includes two guiding members spaced from each other and movable in said slot means.

3. An airplane according to claim 1, in which both said front fiap means and said rear flap means when looking in the flight direction of said plane have their front portions respectively provided with an arm interconnected by said link means.

4. An airplane according to claim 3, in which said link means include a connecting rod adapted to be varied as to its length.

5. An airplane according to claim 1, which includes: lever means pivotally connected to said airplane and provided with slot means, and in which said rear flap means is provided with pin means slidably engaging said lastmentioned slot means.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,045,947 7/1962 Bertin et al 244-42 3,127,130 3/1964 Lyon 24442 3,327,482 6/1967 Pike 24423 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,497,434 8/ 1967 France.

MILTON BUCHLER, Primary Examiner JAMES E. PITTENGER, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 

